Just imagine. While doing a Google search, you come across a beautiful image that you would like to use. But something’s wrong with that image, and your spider senses kick in: you wonder if it’s true or false. Google has just developed a way to determine the authenticity of an image thanks to a new tool called “About this image”.
Scheduled to launch first in the United States in the coming months, About this Image will be an option available in the three-dot menu that appears for any image in Google’s search results, said Cory Dunton, head of product for Google Search, in a blog post.
By selecting this option, you will know when the image and related images were first indexed by Google, where they first appeared and where they were uploaded, for example on social media or on fact-checking sites. The goal is to provide you with the information needed to determine if the image is real and authentic or an AI-created fake.
Fake content is now a pervasive problem on the internet
The option will not only appear in regular Google search results, but also in other places. You’ll be able to access it when searching for an image or screenshot in Google Lens and swiping up the search results in the Google app. Later this year, you’ll also be able to use it by right-clicking or long-pressing an image in the Chrome browser on your desktop or mobile device.
Fake content is now a pervasive problem on the internet, causing people to wonder if what they see online is real. The development of AI threatens to make this problem even more difficult. As the tools improve, they become increasingly capable of generating images and other content that looks real but is actually fake.
To combat this growing threat, Google and other major players must find ways to help us determine the validity of what we see online.
Tags to mention the presence of AI
One of the examples given by Mr. Dunton in his blog post is that of the About this Image tool, which was tasked with identifying a photo depicting a fully staged moon landing. The tool cited several news articles confirming that the image was AI-generated and therefore fake.
Google also plans to make this capability work beyond its own search tools and apps. Dunton said the company will ensure that each of its own AI-generated images has markup in the original file to give it context if you see it on another site.
Third-party creators and publishers, such as Midjourney and Shutterstock, will also be able to add similar tags to their own AI-created images. When these images appear in a Google search, a tag will identify them as AI-generated.
Source: “ZDNet.com”